Mardi Gras...oh what a first cruise story!

[John&LaLa]

we also took first cruise on the Carnivale (1989). paid full fare, had uppers and lowers. had a blast, won the ships lottery with 413, our son's birthday. ended up with other son because of that cruise. what i miss the most was the soft life vests and the muster stations in the bars

[Francine]

Our family's first cruise was also on Mardi Gras. It was a three night cruise out of Fort Lauderdale to see if we really liked cruisng. We had one of those inside cabins with two lower and two upper bunks. However, our sink was in the cabin, not in the bathroom.

 

Happily, it was the start of our many cruises.

 

Fran

[roxlou1231]

I too sailed her in 1983 from

Boston to Bermuda, I haven't sailed since then and I am now sailing the inspiration on 4/7

I too remember being able to sit and shower at the same time. 2upers/2 lowers and 3 girlfriends. we had a blast... I won money on bingo, and the slots. I should have won the beer drinking contest. (it was done in couples.. I met a guy on board and we entered.) we won but at the last min. they let another couple enter and they won. (it still makes me mad) I don't know if it was the bad weather or the beer but during dinner (formal night) the lobster was getting closer to my face as I stared at it. I passed out after dinner face down on the bunk.. only to wake up at midnite and run out again.. it was the last night we all stayed up all night and got extra beer to last from closing till dawn.. it was so much fun we met so many people. I slep for 24 straight hours when I got home. I think I scared my partents... It was some of the best memories. I don't know why I waited so long to go again.. I hope it is as much fun... I feel badly that she was scraped..:( thanks for the picture. I wish I still had mine. It seemed so big at the time and it is the only memory of a ship I have. It looked so small in the picture.

thanks again....it has been great remembering.

[zackiedawg]

Sherincruises and Francine...

 

Thanks for reminding me of one error in my memory. After you both mentioned it, I do recall the sink was in the cabin and not the bathroom! The toilet/shower combo was hilarious, and somehow I think I just merged the sink in there too...but now I do recall the sink in the cabin seeming very odd!

 

Roxlou1231,

 

That's a long way between cruises...you should REALLY notice the difference! Before you go on the Inspiration, try your hardest to envision the Mardi Gras - think of every detail, from the hallways to the promenade to the dining room. It should make the newer ships that much more impressive when the size and scale are directly compared. The Mardi Gras seemed so big to me then...but you could drop it into the hull of the Voyager-class RCCL ships and actually cruise from one end to the other! nd you could stack several Mardi Gras' on top of eachother while doing it and still fit inside.

 

I love pulling into a port next to one of those older classic vessels from my distant and fond memories, and seeing the size difference. Often my room's balcony is higher than the top of the smokestack of those ships...the few surviving ones that cruise under different names and lines but are still the familiar 25-50 year-old liner shape.

 

I'm sure you'll have a great time - cruises are fantastic but the fun of the experience lies in you - if you board the ship wide-eyed and looking for a good time, one will be delivered to you! What I love the most about cruising was the discovery that they can deliver different experiences to different people, all on the same cruise. The partiers find their party, the stress-avoiders find their relief, the quiet find their privacy, the travelers find their exotic lands, the sunbathers find their sun, the gastronomes find their food, the families find other families, elders find other elders, gays find other gays, foreigners find other countrymen...and all of them get along!

[SueSun]

Zakie...I want you on my next cruise!!!

The Mardi was such a memory;;;; now I am losing a bit on the mega ships. But maybe these megaships I am taking with my boys, will eventually turn into memories of what u and I have of cruisin on the Mardi Gras ?????

[srlucado]

My first cruise was on the Mardi Gras, in 1991. I went with a friend from work, and we shared one of thos tiny upper/lower cabins. I seem to recall that it measured roughly 6x12', including the bathroom.

 

I joked with my friend that the Carnivale and Mardis Gras sailed in sight of each other was that in case one sank, the other would be there to pick up survivors.

 

But despite the mediocre food, cramped quarters, broken air conditioning (in August), and indifferent staff, we had a blast.

 

Does anyone remember that Carnival gave you an 11x14 print of a watercolor painting of the ship? I still have mine, proudly hung on a wall.

 

I'll have to dig through my photos and see if I can come up with a couple of nice shots of the Mardi Gras and scan them.

 

Despite her shortcomings, she was a by-God cruise ship, not a self-propelled hotel.

[4boys4mom]

Mardi Gras was my first cruise also. I was 12 and remember how romantic I thought it was. Oddly while one the IMagination last year the host "Smitty" had been with Carnival for something like 20 years...anyway he was just polling the audience and was asking for everyone first cuise. I was one of the last standing he asked me for the year and ship 82/Mardi Gras...I won longest Carnival Cruiser in the room. Turns out the my first sailing was his as well. It was nice to share memories of the grand gal.:)

[zackiedawg]

Hey, another Mardi Gras class of 82! I guess we could have tied if I was onboard! ;)

 

Srlucado,

 

I do remember those watercolors...I've got 6 or 7 of them sitting in a portfolio case along with some of the ship photos I've purchased, and the occasional free ship photo from some of the lines. Holland America also used to give some nice ship art, and I've got a few of those stored up too. Maybe one day, they'll be collector's items!

 

(I've still got my 1982 Night Owl pass from the Mardi Gras!)

[hypnoticbrowneyes]

I was on the last cruise before Carnival retired her. It was my first cruise and surely was not my last. We had the most fun on the Mardi Gras. I can remember the dinning room and the dancing waiters with baked alaska flaming on their heads. And they got all the guest up dancing in the aisles and on the tables. There is something so special about your first cruise that you will never forget. I just wish it wasnt with my Exhusband!!! lol Annmarie

[girlfromoz]

The Mardi Gras was my first cruise too! Does anyone know how big she was compared to the newer ships? I thought she was huge at the time.

[zackiedawg]

Mardi Gras was a bit over 27,000 tons. Compare that with the Celebration which you went on a few years ago, which was 47,200 tons...nearly double the tonnage!

 

Now if you think the Mardi Gras seems small...compare to the HAL Zuiderdam or Celebrity Millenium clas ships at 90,000 tons! Or even bigger, to the Princess Grand class ships at 101,000 tons! But wait, there's more! The RCCL Voyager class ships are in the 140,000 + range. QE2 is bigger than that! And the upcoming RCCL ship will be yet bigger.

 

Surprisingly, the increase in tonnage is not seen so much in overall length...the Mardi Gras and some of the trans-Atlantic hulled ships of that day had long, elegant hulls with big, prominent bows. So though these newer ships are much longer, they aren't percentage-wise longer as they are in weight.

 

But suffice to say, you could easily park the Mardi Gras inside many of the ships out today - and you'd have room to sail around a bit inside some of the bigger ones!

[girlfromoz]

W.O.W. I don't know what I would do on one of the larger ones. The Imagination will be my biggest. Although the mega ships have so much more to offer I still miss the charm of the Mardi Gras. Wish I could sail her again.

[love2relax]

I sailed in an inside cabin on the Mardi Gras for my first cruise too! We sailed from Fort Lauderdale ona short 4 day cruise, and then spent three nights at Epcot/Disney World. We "splurged" by getting an inside with two lowers instead of the upper/lower combo, but found the bathroom laughable. I remember that when I sat on the toilet the bathroom door was against my knees. It was at an angle. We spent so little time in the room. My only complaint was the tiny bathroom. My how times have changed. (I never realized that other ships had TV's in the cabin.) Now we always book balconies. I too loved the wooden decks. She seemed so large when we stood on the pier in front of her!

[dromMOM]

I was on the Mardi Gras on March 8, 1978!!!!

 

If you think it was loose and wild then.. Let me tell you it was even more wild and crazy in 78!

 

Not only did they have the Cutest Italian Officers.. but they mix and mingled.. with us..

 

I will try to share a few pics.. as I get them scanned.

Here is a pic of me and this ship.. and my Booking Receipt!

[Philly Steve]

I was on the Mardi Gras on March 8, 1978!!!!

 

If you think it was loose and wild then.. Let me tell you it was even more wild and crazy in 78!

 

Not only did they have the Cutest Italian Officers.. but they mix and mingled.. with us..

 

I will try to share a few pics.. as I get them scanned.

Here is a pic of me and this ship.. and my Booking Receipt!

 

Wow, what a gooood time that must have been! I know what you mean about the crew. My wife has a pic of her dancing with the Mardi Gras captain in the mid 1980's.

[dromMOM]

Wow, what a gooood time that must have been! I know what you mean about the crew. My wife has a pic of her dancing with the Mardi Gras captain in the mid 1980's.

 

 

Well here was my favorite officer......Roberto.. from Portofino!

 

Remember I was only 23!!!!

 

Boy have times changed..

[margot jones]

I too crusied on the Mardi Gras in the 90's. It was my first cruise ever. It was a family reunion cruise and let me tell you, we partied hard! We put the crew to bed every night! Never mind the ship was on it's last leg and you could smell some of the public bathrooms in the hallways and our own cabin bathroom flooded. I think what made this cruise so wonderful was that It was all of my family and some friends (large group at least 60) some of which have passed on. But that time together on the MARDI GRAS, I will treasure always!

[lisiamc]

I never sailed on the Mardi Gras, but she convinced me that a cruise was exactly what I wanted to do. I was a teenager on a weekend trip to Quebec City in the late 1970s when I saw her sailing up the St. Lawrence river one evening. The lights were on, a Dixieland band was playing on deck, and even from the riverbank I could see that everyone was having a great time. I just thought it was the most sophisticated thing I'd ever seen, and I so wanted to be one of those passengers. It took me until 1992 to take my first cruise, but I've been hooked ever since!

[pokyd]

My first cruise was also on Mardi Gras, in 1983 or 4. I went alone, spur of the moment last minute, got a real cheap price and shared a cabin with 3 other singles. It was tight to say the least! However, I had a great time...I remember Grand Cayman and Jamaica the best. The food was great, the crew was wonderful and those real teak deck chairs were the best! I also remember trying to climb over those door openings while under the influence of too much partying and it was sometimes a challenge...

 

Mardi Gras got me hooked on cruising and I'm so glad she was there. A great ship and you're right, she should have been preserved. Too bad.

[etoile]

Elena, what a great picture! I'm not able to see the slide Zackie posted a while back...is it gone? I am presently reading Devil on the Deep Blue Seas which is about the history of cruise companies, with a heavy emphasis on Carnival, so I am learning a lot about the Mardi Gras! Was anybody here on board when she hit the sandbar? :o

[zackiedawg]

Hey Etoile. Sorry about the pic...I edited my album many months ago, and changed some of the links. I forgot that it would cut the linked pictures for some of my older threads. Here is the crappy fuzzy slide pic:

 

 

The original was actually pretty nice...but unfortuantely I don't have a slide scanner, so I had to stick the slide on a flashlight and photograph it with my digital camera! I need to get a slide scanner or some other solution, because so many of my older cruise pics are on slides.

[etoile]

I think the picture came out great, especially considering how you "digitized" it! I never would have come up with that solution. Thanks so much for providing an up-to-date link...it's a superb ship picture, with nothing else around - I look forward to seeing more if you ever get them online!

[dromMOM]

I think the picture came out great, especially considering how you "digitized" it! I never would have come up with that solution. Thanks so much for providing an up-to-date link...it's a superb ship picture, with nothing else around - I look forward to seeing more if you ever get them online!

 

i have a few other pics too.. when i get a chance i will scan them in..but that is one of my favorites.. as that is how I remember the Mardi Gras.. in those days.. the late 70's the officers flirted up a storm....Back then the music in the DISCO was LIVE!!!! And we also hung out with the band.. The actual single passengers.. were nothing to write home about .. we had much more fun with all the staff....

 

elena

[kspzp]

I sailed March 27, 1976!! Carnival had 2 ships, the Carnivale and the Mardi Gras!From what I remember...to tell the difference between the ships, the smoke stacks were painted in opposit colors...(red whie and blue for one and blue white and red for the other) Carnival was filiming a promo movie and I was in it!! I saw it at a CCL travel agents seminar about a year later!! Bob Dickenson was on the cruise as well!!

I fell in love on that ship and almost married the guy!! It was my first cruise and I will never forget it! I still have the formal night dinner pictures!! AHHHHHHH memories...I sail Friday on the Fascination, can't wait...

[Margienj]

My dh and I sailed on the Mardi Gras in Oct. of 1981 for our honeymoon. I found the deck plan from it and there are like 5 passenger decks. It's amazing to me that at that time I thought it was absolutely huge. We were in a little inside cabin but since it was our honeymoon we had a double bed. I too remember the sit and shower bathroom. Very fond memories of that cruise on that ship.